Shaman's Granddaughter
by Kalsypher
Summary: Amadahy (Forest) has a lot to offer. Like telling the future. Using constellations, she can determine what dangers are coming. After revealing everything to Tony Stark in front of Agent Phil Coulson, she is told to stay with Tony so she can continue to tell about the upcoming events. Tony doubts her abilities to fight, but she is a shaman's granddaughter after all. (BrucexOC)
1. Chapter 1

We had a key speaker. None other than Tony Stark. Hormone raging college girls were whispering so fast I couldn't understand them. The guys were whispering about how they wished they could be like them and spoke about how they wanted to become legends like him.

I, however, just wanted to top my high score on Pac-Man. Sighing, I waited for him to walk onto the stage and let his ego inflate and make us all feel like inferior minds wasting time in college because we were not all nature-born geniuses.

However egotistical this man was, he was a genius. And someone I admired. I was a bit disappointed when he dropped from the weapons making business, but his Iron Man was a good replacement.

I admired him. I did not want to be like him.

The rather large auditorium had the first five rows were cut off for the smarter students worth being seen by Tony. However, I refused to be noticed by him. I was not a 'smart' student. The teachers knew my potential through the things I could build, but I was unable to put that into equations and whatever those other sciences were.

But grades were what mattered. Not abilities. Grades gave the school a good name. However, this was not a college of building. This was a college focused primarily on logistics, which I did not have, and math, which I didn't understand. A business college. We had some sort of important engineering wing, but I didn't care about it. Too much math.

But, that was why I was there. To mingle my lack of understanding equations into being able to build the many things that existed in my mind.

Tony stepped onto the stage. He was as I imagined he would be. Combed back brown hair, light tan skin, dark eyes, a neatly trimmed mustache and goatee-beard thing. He was dressed in a light grey AC/DC yellow font shirt with a black blazer and black slacks. Properly casual.

Everyone cheered loudly making me wince some. He had a cocky smile as he waved his hands in the air and lowered them, the volume of his fan-filled auditorium disappearing.

"Hello West Chester College of Business and Engineering," he greeted. "You know, I've never understood that. We are nowhere near West Chester. Even if this is a branch, they should include 'in Newark' somewhere."

That received a few chuckles.

"Anyway, I'm not here to argue about names of schools or whatever." He popped his hand against his fist, "I am here because you," he pointed to us, "want to be like me."

Silence.

"None of you are going to be like me," Tony said as he paced the stage, his hands behind his back. "Mainly because no one is like me," he said as an afterthought, "But also because none of you are majoring in both engineering and business. If I were to pick one of the two, I would pick engineering. I really don't give a damn about all that business stuff, that's what business people are for. I care about what I make, you know why?" He looked at all of us, his eyes meeting some of the students. He began pacing again, "Because I am the one that made it. I don't have a factory. I don't have anything other than myself and the places where I build things. Yes, I used to make weapons, yes, my father did as well and that's where my wealth came from, but," he paused looking at us again. "He made them. I made them too. What made our weapons different from everyone else's was no one else could build our weapons. We put things only we created, that could not be figured out by anyone else," he said with a rising tone assuring us that no one else could do it. "And that is what you need to do to become successful in this world. Be original. Don't play Pac-Man." I looked up from the game, Tony's eyes meeting mine. His eyes moved to his feet as he started pacing again.

I got a smack on the back of my head. Looking over my shoulder, I glared at the headmaster.

"Pay attention," he hissed.

"Don't hit me," I shot back.

"You can't just do what the world wants you to do. That's why there are people in cubicles and uniforms. Just be yourself. Oh, and keep your secrets to yourself. Uh, any questions?"

Hundreds of hands went up.

I could tell by the look on his face that he had regretted it. The questions he answered were mostly about Iron Man and if he was single and if he would look at their creations. He mostly denied the creations.

And after would be some sort of luncheon mixer with the most intelligent of the school, the first five rows.

"Alright, that's all the time I've got." He pointed at me, "You're coming to this luncheon, kid."

I had never regretted playing Pac-Man more in my entire life. Going to the luncheon, I definitely looked out of place amongst the suits and dresses. Tony was speaking to them all giving them brief answers to their questions.

His eyes landed on me and he wandered over, a glass of champagne in his hand and a smile on his lips, "Do you need a job?"

I raised an eyebrow at the request. "What?"

"Whatever you were using to play Pac-Man on is advanced. Why weren't you up front?"

"What I am capable of does not matter to them," I replied. "Look at this. They care about grades. I suck at math and I suck at all that other science stuff. I just build. Equations and everything…I don't understand."

"Well, I would greatly appreciate it if you swung by Stark Tower some time. Or when you graduate here. Whatever."

"I'm a business major."

"Oh, did I offend you?" He asked, not caring if he did or didn't.

I smiled, "No, considering I'm ignorant of whatever you talk about. Anyway, what's the job?"

"Just building. Helping me create things that even I won't know how to use."

"Hire your future competition," I told him.

He pointed his glass at me with a devious look in his eyes, "Exactly."

I sighed, "I'll take it if you pay off my student loans."

"Deal."

"And," I began.

"Sorry, I'm in a committed relationship," he said.

"I want half of my pay check to go to the Tennessee Cherokee plantation."

"Oh, so you're full blooded," Tony said. "Yeah, I can do that, but are you sure you want to do half? I mean, I'm sure $500 a month would do."

"How about at the end of every year, they get $100,000."

He stared at me for a moment, "Alright, deal. So, do you want to graduate or are you going to leave me and start your own business once your name gets known?"

I sighed as I looked around the room, "I've never been interested in fame. Just trying to do something right for once."

"If you have an arrest record-"

"I don't have one. I just don't have much left."

There was some concern and interest on his face, "You can't be that low."

"No, financially…I'm as a college student should be. I just want to make it up to my people for leaving."

I hoped he couldn't see through that lie.

"Alright. Sounds good. Pack your bags, we're going to Manhattan. Don't worry about resigning or anything. I'll get Pepper to take care of it."

Once he was done with his socializing, criticizing the teachers for ignoring such talent, and a few words with the headmaster, we left.

I sighed as I went to my apartment, Tony at my heels. I pulled the key and put it in the lock, unlocking the door.

"You didn't change the lock?"

"The key has a barcode that the scanner inside the lock can read. I don't have to turn the key. My roommate doesn't know though."

I opened the door and showed him the room. Clearly split in half, he looked around the room. On her half, mass chaos reigned. She was a punk rock girl. Every week her hair was a different color or a different style. It seemed like every day I would find a new tattoo or new piercing.

"She seems fun."

"She is," I said. "She loves my heritage more than I do."

I had a hand-made blanket across my bed and a dream catcher above the pillow. There was a blue leather capped staff in the corner, the leather held down by brown suede leather that had beads of various colors to open up spirituality. I had some skulls of some animals and moccasins.

He reached for the staff, but I grabbed it first. "It's sacred. You cannot touch it."

He held his hands up as he continued looking around. I sighed as I wrapped the staff in the blanket and started brushing everything into the bags.

"Oh, don't worry about clothes right now. I'm sure you want new ones anyway. Pepper can take you shopping."

"Mr. Stark-"

"Tony."

"I can't-"

"You can. We'll be working together. Just keep your voodoo to yourself."

"I'll be sure to put worm eggs in your coffee," I muttered as I finished packing.

I looked up at him with a devious smile.

"So," he said as he looked at the blanket, "Why is it 'sacred'?"

"It's my grandfather's staff. He was a shaman. It's an every other generation thing. My father is the chief right now. My grandfather died after I left. I would be a shaman, but since I'm not there, the staff goes to me, the should be shaman and my brother gets the chief position."

"So, why don't you have a Chief hat?"

"It's a war bonnet," she told him. "I don't plan on participating in a war any time soon."

"So where are all your toys?" He asked, looking around the room. "I don't see anything strange."

"Well, there's only so much that can be done to a dorm room," I replied. "Just depends. Knock on the wall and say where you want to go."

He knocked, "Stark Tower."

I rolled my eyes.

The room changed into a view of one of the offices in Stark Tower.

"Security breach!" He exclaimed. "How did you do that?"

"I have access to all the security cameras. It's one of the secrets I have."

"And Pac-Man?"

I held up my hands showing him the bands on my wrists. Putting the bands together then pulling them apart the screen came up.

"How big can you make it?"

"As big as I want."

I put my finger on the band. There was a whisper of whirring and Pac-Man was on the wall. I frowned at the bands, "I still can't get that noise out."

He nodded, impressed, "Alright. Let's get you moved in."

"I can't just have an apartment?"

"No, I have to give you full access to everything. And you need to learn where it all is. So, you should just live there for a while. Get used to everything. If you ever get any sort of creative urge, you'll have full access to the labs. That sort of thing."

Pulling the chair from the desk, I placed it under the light and unscrewed the plastic fixture then removed a light bulb and pulled out a hearing sensor. Placing that in a box, I walked to the door, opening it then held the latch in.

Tony's eyes sparkled with interest when the metal on the side of the door shot out showing the scanner. I pulled the scanner out and pushed the metal siding back in.

"That's everything."

"Maybe I should have gone to college," Tony said. "It seems I could have used the practice."

"If you want to keep a college mind, I have to stay in college."

"Fine," he said. "You're transferring. Get your transcript and we'll be on our way."

Tony Stark could do whatever the hell he wanted. I was out of West Chester and in some city-wide college in Manhattan. Newark was big, but it wasn't Manhattan. This place was HUGE. A city of grey with yellow dashes of taxis. Horns bounced off the large buildings making the city much louder than I could ever dream it would be.

My bag fell off my shoulder as I stared up at Stark Tower. "Holy. Hell."

"And just think," Tony said as he stood next to me. "You could have one too one day. But I think I'm going to make Pepper one first."

"Uh-huh," I said distantly, not really listening to him.

"C'mon," he said. "I'll show you around."

"I can't just explore?"

"After what I saw in that dorm, I don't trust you at all."

"Wise decision," I replied with a smirk.

"So," he started as we walked through the lobby, "This is the lobby."

He definitely had taste. The chic place was over the top. Marble tile floors, tan walls, red accent rugs with gold decorations. Long abstract lights hung from the ceiling giving a definite glow to the room, accenting everything perfectly. Deep colored abstracts decorated the walls. There was a waiting area, deep brown leather couches were pressed against the wall along with some arm chairs to match. There were classy marble stands with lovely iron based lamps that had crème caps over their glows. The coffee table that held a few magazines was cherry wood with an elegant carving. I was almost expecting a paw to be at the bottom of the table, but there was an easy pyramid-like bottom.

"Pepper design it?" I joked.

"No, I did, actually," he replied, his hands in his pockets. "The first twenty floors are just business. The top ten are R&D. You'll love it."

"And amongst these thirty floors, I'm going to live…?"

"On the 30 floor. We have two floors separating the business from the R&D."

We stepped into the elevator and he hummed as we went up.

"No elevator music?" I asked.

"Nah," he said with distaste. "No one likes it."

"What about normal music as elevator music?"

"That'll ruin the songs."

"What about Christmas music?"

He looked at me, "I'll think about it."

"Dubstep?" I suggested as we walked out of the elevator.

I moved out of the way of some rushing woman.

"Dubstepped Christmas music," I said finally.

He opened the large door revealing a large room with a medium desk. There was a large window that gave the entire view of Manhattan. My jaw dropped at the room. Wooden floors, cool blues, plants, tall bookshelves filled with books. Behind the medium desk, a strawberry blond sat, talking on the phone, her finger up telling us to wait.

"Yes. Ok. Thank you very much."

She hung up the phone with a distressed sigh. A smile found its way to her lips as she looked at me cheerily as she stood up. Her proper white suit with a black pencil skirt showed me how proper I would have to dress. Her bright green eyes were accented perfectly by her makeup and her hair was tied back.

I met her half way across the room, "I'm Forest Wolfmother."

"Pepper Potts," she greeted as she shook my hand, the smile never leaving her face.

"She's my assistant now," Tony explained.

"Assistant," Pepper said a knowing look on her face. "Really?"

"Yeah, he's jealous of my Pac-Man so I have to work for him now."

"Might as well hire the competition," Tony said. "She's got some seriously good ideas."

"Can you help with the clean energy project?" Pepper asked me.

"Clean energy?" I asked Tony.

"Yeah," he said. "I'm making a prototype right now. You got any suggestions?"

"Not until I get a look at all the components you plan to use."

"Then let's go."

I smiled at Pepper, "It was nice to meet you."

"You too."

I left with Tony and we went back to the elevator. "The energy I'm using for the reactor is the same energy I'm using in this," he said tapping his chest. "It should work. It still needs some tweaking."

The door opened and we were in a…garage? A very hi-tech garage. Computers, holograms, tools, scrap pieces.

"This is nice," I said as I looked around.

"Jarvis! Pull up the scans. We're giving Ms. Wolfmother complete access to the building."

"Right away, sir," a very proper, almost British accented voice replied.

"I wish my computers had a personality."

He crossed his arms over his chest, "So is your name really Forest?"

"No. But no one can pronounce my name, so I leave it at Forest."

"What's your name?"

"Amadahy."

He gave me a blank look, "Forest it is then."

He led me through the lab, showing me what everything did. Apparently, the floor above us held the Iron Man suits he had been working on, but he wanted to focus on the clean energy reactor.

"Sir, the scanners are ready."

"Simple fingerprints," he said as he led me to a hologram screen. I put my hand on the screen and watched the light trace over it.

"There are more reliable security systems."

"I don't need a key scanner."

"I wasn't talking about my key scanner, which I will install into my door, by the way. I'd have to tinker with it for a while. I'll let you know when I'm done."

He sighed as he crossed his arms over his chest. "Secrets aren't going to work between us. I do not like being left out of the loop. Can't stand it. All your ideas, profits will go to you."

"I'm not after money or fame, Tony. I just want to do what I'm good at and not be used."

"Well, I'm not going to use you, so what's the idea?"

"A fingerprint scanner inside the doorknob. Anyone can dust fingerprints and hack a fingerprint scanner. Not everyone opens the door the same way."

"Jarvis, take note of that. Be sure to remind Forest about that idea when we're done with everything else."

"Of course, sir."

"Everything else?" I asked.

"Yeah," he said easily. "Iron Man is more important than your fingerprint scanner."

"Right because we have the same ideas and if my half malfunctions you'll die. Makes perfect sense."

"We'll make it work. So, this is the reactor," he said as he held up a piece of metal. "We have to get the energy in here," he tapped his reactor, "into this. But instead of pushing things away, it just needs to flow."

"Ok," I said. "Let's see what we can do."

I shrugged off my jacket and heard a whirring. "Your coat, madam," Jarvis said.

"Uh, thanks…Jarvis."

I put my jacket on the bar and watched it move to the other side of the room.

"Hey," Tony said, snapping me back. "Work."

I rolled my eyes as I looked over his design of the reactor in his chest. I pulled the hologram up and looked it over. "Jarvis, can I have a screen to write on?"

A holographic screen appeared next to me. As I wrote on the screen, I took the shape of the container into mind. I drew and erased many times until I figured out how to fix it.

"How about this?" I asked him.

He stepped to my side. "What am I looking at?"

"The right container and the energy. The energy will be in a constant flow around the coils. And they're springy so it can be squished together and pulled apart."

He looked at it for a while, "Alright. Let's give it a try."

It was near midnight when we were finishing the reactor. I was on my sixth cup of coffee and went to the window to stare over New York.

But I found something else.

"Tony, something's wrong," I said quickly.

He ran to my side, his eyes searching the outside, "What's wrong?"

"The sky."

He sighed, "I know you're used to the trees and not having pollution, but this is what we have here."

"No, it's not that. Jarvis, I need a star chart for tonight and a star chart from when the alien came."

The two maps popped up.

"Well, it's not from that alien," I muttered, pushing the screen away.

Tony stood behind me. "Well, what's going on?"

"As a shaman, I had to memorize the stars, their signs, and their meanings. A zodiac of sorts. When I left the plantation, I found out about the Chinese Zodiac and horoscopes. Horoscopes are a lie; they never match up with anything that matters. But, the Cherokee Zodiac and the Chinese Zodiac are very close. Like here," I started connecting dots, "This is the woodpecker. It's supposed to be fading, and it is, but the tail is trapped in the salmon. The salmon are the stars in the sky right now, and the bear should be clearer than it is. And when you put the Chinese dragon on there, the woodpecker and bear form in the dragon. And there are stars I don't recognize. Stars that aren't from our universe."

"If it's bothering you that badly, go check up on it. Two floors down, there's a massive balcony. Feel free to see what disaster you think is coming. I'm going to work on testing the reactor."

I rolled my eyes as I walked out. Heading to the said floor and going to the balcony, I watched the sky.

The woodpecker. The time of long days and south winds. When the mouse totem is placed on the totem pole. When people change. Some people start acting like protective parents, caring about everything they love and willing to do whatever it takes. But some people become resentful and get envious.

The salmon. The time of maturing and south winds. When natural disasters come. When the proud start to shine brightly and their pride is accepted. They are passionate about their creativities and enjoy telling all about them. But not all are like that. The resentful and envious begin acting in their ignorance. They become arrogant to try and best the proud. Their judgment gets clouded. They become reckless. They are human disasters.

The bear. The time of harvest and south winds. When healing takes place. The ignorant become hesitant, realizing what they have done. All are welcomed during the time. Love and optimism is placed in all hearts.

The Year of the Dragon. When leaders arise. Some of the greatest. Some, less so. All strive to be on top. This is when war starts. And war was coming. The alien from New Mexico was not the cause. There was a different universe causing this.

We were in trouble.

I went back to Tony's workshop and helped him test the reactor.

"How was stargazing?"

"We're in serious trouble."

He looked at me, giving me a look that told me he definitely didn't believe me and he was not going to believe me.

"Well Iron Man, I just hope you're ready to step up when whatever planet comes to take over the world."

"The world, huh," he asked uninterested.

"Good thing we've got the great Iron Man to save us from this disaster," I said sarcastically. "Where would we be without him?"

"Not having clean energy," he said as we continued testing it and adjusting things. "This is really good, kid. Good work."

"Still looks like a year?"

"And it's just the prototype," he said proudly.

"And the Iron Man suits," I commented as we continued. "What do you plan to do with them?"

"I need to make them more durable and lighter."

"Sorry, but I don't make Elvish metal."

He looked at me, straight-faced again.

"You're not the only joker around here anymore," I told him, still working on the reactor.

"Great," he said. "Another smart ass is just what we need."

"I thought so too. Otherwise you wouldn't have pulled me out of college."

I stopped working, staring off for a moment. I sighed, "Well, that was a nice thought while I had it."

"I've been working on a suit that can get deployed by Jarvis. When I wear certain bracelets, it can scan them and fit around me."

"That's exciting," I said as I adjusted the reactor again.

I yawned when the sun started to rise. It was almost done.

"I'm getting food, do you want anything?" I asked.

"Yeah, just bring whatever," he said as he kept tinkering with the reactor.

I sighed as I walked out of the garage to the elevator. When the doors opened, Pepper was standing there.

"Hi…" I greeted, shocked she was there.

"Hello," she greeted pleasantly, still wearing her silky pink pjs.

I guess I'd have to get used to that.

"Hey, where's a good place to get breakfast?"

"There's a wonderful shop right around the corner. It's called Good Morning."

"You want anything?" I offered as I stepped in.

"Coffee please, and a crepe," she said with a smile. "Oh," she caught the elevator before it closed. "Here."

I took the card from her then looked at her, "I-"

"You're his partner. And it's just breakfast. He won't mind."

"Right," I said distantly.

She waved and skipped off.

I looked like a hot mess. My black hair was sticking to my face; I had grease marks on my face. I really didn't care. Walking out of Stark Tower, I made my way to this Good Morning place. As I searched the menu, I caught stares from people in line behind me. I stepped up to the counter.

"How can I-" the young man hesitated as he looked at me. "help you."

"I'm a mechanic," I said bluntly. "I need three coffees two crepes and a cinnamon roll to go."

"That'll be $15.83."

I handed him the card which caught his attention. He shook his head. "Don't get your hopes up," he said as he handed me the card back. "Tony doesn't keep women for very long."

"I work on his cars," I said as I signed the receipt and walked away, waiting for my stuff.

The young man walked to the side and handed me the order, "Well, mechanic, if you ever want someone to treat you right-"

"There aren't nice people in New York," I stated and walked out.

Nothing pissed me off more than strangers asking me out on dates. I finally got to the garage where Pepper was still examining the reactor and Tony was using words I didn't even understand.

"If this works, you've got to go to the press. And you'll have to put her on with you," Pepper said as she took one of the coffees from the holder.

"It was my idea," Tony told her.

"Yeah, it was his idea," I agreed.

"They are going to want to know the new face of Stark Towers. You have to be made known. You're already using his credit card."

"You what?" Tony said.

"I gave it to her," Pepper said blunt, but smiling.

"It's breakfast," I said as I ate my cinnamon roll.

"What'd you tell the boy at the coffee shop?" Pepper asked.

"I told him I was a mechanic."

"You look like one," Tony commented.

"That's why I told him that. Then he tried to ask me on a date."

Pepper smiled, "What did you say?"

"I told him New York doesn't have good people. I don't like strangers asking me on dates."

"I will remember that," Pepper said with a smile.

I was going to say something, but Tony shook his head.

"Well, I'll leave you two alone," Pepper said. She kissed Tony, "Have fun."

"Well, what does the newspaper say?" Tony asked. "Anything weird happening, Stargazer?"

"I didn't read the newspaper. It's probably government stuff anyway. Just like this will be when it happens."

"Don't get a crepe for me ever again."

"Don't eat it."

He finished it off, "I was hungry. I still don't like it."

"So, where is this going?"

"Under the bay."

"Will this be able to stand the cold temperatures when winter comes?"

"Yeah," he said. "We'll install it tonight. C'mon. Let's look at the Iron Man suit."

I followed him to the next floor up and looked at all the Iron Man suits he was working on.

"And you want to make them more durable?" I asked as I ran my finger across one. "They're practically unbreakable. It's the insides you need to worry about. Your wires can't be delicate wires. You need serious covering."

"I can't just cover the wires," he told me. "They would lose their conduction."

I chewed on my lip as I walked around the suit. "All of this attaches directly to you?"

"Just the joints," he replied. "And they barely do that. It's almost like a body cast. Tight enough to hold, loose enough to let some air through."

"A natural circulation?" I asked.

"Yeah."

"If I'm right about this war from another world, how long can you go in that suit without needing an oxygen tank?"

"A few hours."

I nodded as I put a thoughtful hand to my face. "The weapons, how are they?"

"Crowded."

"To be in the weapons business you aren't very good at them."

"Yeah, I know. But what about you? You don't know anything about weapons."

"I can make them and with access to what you have, I can make a concentrated nuclear bomb. But, we'll have to work on that later. I'm dissecting it and we'll go from there."

Tony left me alone to tear the suit apart. "Just remember to put it back together."

"K," I replied distantly, my mind on the suit.

Well, it wasn't completely on the suit. It was on the stars I had seen. So, I started adjusting for the worst. The suit would lose power and be slightly weaker, but it would be strong enough to fight a different world.

At least, I hoped it would.


	2. Chapter 2

I had a towel in my hand, wiping the grease off my hands. I had finished upgrading the suit when Jarvis told me to go to the 31 floor.

I stepped off and found Pepper in shorts and a white long-sleeved where she had rolled the sleeves up.

"He's installing the arc reactor now."

She turned off everything when I got to her side.

"Good to go on this end," Tony said. "The rest is up to you."

"You disconnected the transmission lines?" Pepper asked. "Are we off the grid?"

"Stark Tower is about to become a beacon of self-sustaining clean energy," Tony told us.

"Well, assuming the arc reactor takes over and it actually works," she teased.

"I assume," Tony said. "Light her up."

Pepper pushed a button and all of the lights came back on.

Well, look at that.

Pepper smiled at me, "You two did such a good job." Her attention went back to the computer, "How does it look?"

"Like Christmas, but with more…me," he said.

"We've got to go wider on the public awareness campaign. You need to do some press. I'm in DC tomorrow. I'm working on the zoning for the next three buildings."

"Pepper," Tony nearly groaned. "You're killing me. The moment, remember? Enjoy the moment."

"Get in here and I will," she said seductively.

I raised the hologram to watch the levels for a moment. Everything was scratchy but it was stabilizing.

"How is it?" Pepper asked.

"It's stabilizing," I told her. "It'll be fine in a bit. The lines have to get used to the new energy."

She sighed in relief, "That's great."

"Grow a spine, Jarvis," Tony said as he walked in. "I got a date."

"Levels are holding steady," I told him.

"Of course they are," Tony said. "I was directly involved. Which brings me to my next question."

I went out to the balcony so Tony could have his 'moment'. The stars were getting worse. Something very bad was already here.

"Ms. Wolfmother, your presence is being requested inside," Jarvis told me.

"Thanks Jarvis."

I walked in and Tony gestured me to join him. As I stood by him, my eyes landed on the blue cube. Loki, the god of mischief and brother of Thor was the one that was causing problems.

I walked to the blue cube and turned to the man in the suit, "Nunelvna has Atloyihv Svnoyiehinvdo?"

The man in the suit looked at Tony then at me. "Loki has the Tesseract," the man corrected.

"Atloyihv Svnoyiehinvdo is a legend through the Native Americans. It means Moon's Tear. A blessing from the gods to share the glow of a blue moon with mortals. For a human to have it is bad enough. For it to be in the hands of Nunelvna means destruction is coming to the Earth."

Tony looked at me, "You believe all that?"

"You're going to stand there and tell me I'm wrong after you hear about a humanoid coming to the Earth to get a cube of pure energy?"

He sighed as he looked at all the holograms. "Well, what are we going to do?"

"I'll go ahead," I said. "Get started on a way to track it."

"You don't even know what it is."

"You don't forget an interaction with Atloyihv Svnoyiehinvdo. I know exactly what I'm looking for."

"Take your phone so you can keep me updated."

"Yes Mother."

I approached the man in the suit and put out my hand, "Forest Wolfmother."

"Phil Coulson. So, you had an interaction with the Tesseract?"

"No, but I saw what it can do."

The question…

I would have to lie about everything. This S.H.I.E.L.D. had caught my scent and was going to use me against the Moon's Tear.

I remembered the interaction well. I was fifteen when it rained for four days. There was no sun, no moon, no lightning. My grandfather was the first to pass out. Shortly followed by my mother and brother then my father. So, I went to get help. Everyone was passing out. Why, I didn't know until the moon finally peeked out of the clouds.

It took a few days for my grandfather to come to, but when he did, he told us a story. He had had a vision. There was a glowing river in a sun-lit forest. Night came and the river's light remained. But as the days passed, the river's glow was leaving and the forest was dying as well as the animals living there. Then, there was a blue light that took the forest and brought everything back to life, even the glow of the river.

I knew exactly what it meant, though the rest of my family was confused. I had to go to the Moon's Tear to find out what happened. So, I did. At the time, the Moon's Tear was located within the mountains. Many traveled far to see it, to find answers or to receive its blessing.

I could feel my life leaving me when I finally reached the cube. And that's when I came back to life.

That's when it became obvious. I needed energy to survive. I could not live in shadow forever.

When I made it back to my grandfather and told him, he gave me his staff and sent me into the world, giving me a blessing of wisdom and protection.

The first city I found, the power went out. The entire city shut down. After a couple of hours, the lights came back on, but that wasn't the last time I took out a city.

I collected tools I knew I would need and a few extras then headed with Pepper and Phil to the car. Pepper was dropped off at LaGuardia leaving me and Phil in the car.

"Tony mentioned that you knew this was coming," Phil said. "That the stars told you."

"Yep," I said. "How long has Loki been here?"

"Just over twenty-four hours."

I nodded, looking out the window.

"Can you trace the cube?"

"Yeah."

"With the stars?"

"Yeah."

"What's going to happen since Loki has this Tesseract?"

"He doesn't know its power," I said. "But, the Moon's Tear will corrupt even the best man's mind with a hunger for power. And he came in the time where that will only poison him more."

"Its power? What can it do?"

"It's energy in a cube form. It can do whatever the hell it wants. Even turn cats into frogs."

He just tightened his lips, a look of disbelief on his face as he looked away. "Don't you want to know about who you're working with?"

"No," I replied. "I'm working with Tony and that's good enough for me."

"So, how did you and Mr. Stark meet? You a fan or…"

"He's in a committed relationship," I quoted mockingly. "I was a student at West Chester in Newark. He came to speak to all of us and he caught me playing Pac-Man."

"You impressed Stark?"

"More like insulted."

He nodded with a strained smile. "When we get there, you can feel free to take a shower. No one else is coming in until tomorrow."

I nodded.

I wasn't exactly thrilled to fly, but it had to be done, I suppose. Or they thought it was necessary.

I was a bit surprised at the aircraft carrier we landed on. It was probably two in the morning and the lights that bordered the ship were glowing bright like stars around the edges. But, it had a strange twist. There were two take off points, I guess. It gave the ship an odd shape.

I whistled, impressed with the ship. "This thing is huge. I am going to love this."

"I'll show you around, unless you want to rest."

"Yeah, just show me to my room. Or a shower."

He smiled as he led me inside. Watching everything, I would be able to plant my own things where I needed to. He showed me a room and I closed the door. The room was white. So was the bed.

Hell of a guest room.

I took my bag into the bathroom with me, not trusting anyone to come in, even though this was supposed to be a safe place. After my shower, I changed into some fresh clothes and tied my hair up.

Silently walking down the halls, keeping to the shadows, I managed to pass oblivious agents and even some that weren't so oblivious. My travels stopped at a large room with a glass cage. Well, there were two. One was suspended up by something while the other was connected to a power generator.

I quickly made it back to my room, locking it behind me. Searching through my bag, I pulled out my light bulb and sound reactor. Replacing the bulb and hiding the sound reactor, I moved on to the lock. Easily applying the scanner to the inside of the door, I pushed it back and locked it. The rest of my tools and appliances couldn't be used in the room.

I laid down on the bed, my eyes on the ceiling. I was nervous. Hell, I was a wreck. The Moon's Tear was not something that man could handle. I wasn't sure where it came from, and I knew it didn't come from the moon, but wherever it was…it was dangerous.

I pushed my wrists together and pulled out the screen. Touching the band, I sent the hologram to the wall. The cube rotated around on the wall. I chewed on my lip as I watched it. Energy in a cube. The gods had put it inside the cube or something. I couldn't remember the whole story.

The Moon's Tear was still locked away. That was a good thing. But how could it be unlocked? Some sort of mechanism would be needed. Something that would react to the cube and set the captured energy free.

The hologram went away as my mind went back to the power generator cage. They would need the same mechanism to pull the energy out of me. I would be building my own destruction if I worked on this.

Pinching the bridge of my nose, I felt absolutely sick. I wasn't going to be sleeping.

I knocked on the wall. "Pine forest."

The calming view made me feel somewhat better. I smiled some as I placed my hand on the wall. I was never going to live in this again.

My phone buzzed.

I knocked on the wall, "Stark Tower floor 31."

I answered my phone as I stared at Tony on my wall, "Hey, I've got a visual. Tell Jarvis to give you audio and we won't need the phones."

"Give her audio," Tony said and hung up. He looked at the camera, "I hate you, by the way. And, did you take anything that can hack their system?"

I searched through my bag, "Nothing that can get it done fast."

"Then what good is it?"

"It doesn't come up as a virus."

"Can it cover up one that can?"

"I can make it that way."

"Do it and I'll bring a bug for Jarvis."

"I need Jarvis's code," I told him pulling up a screen from the band.

"9028478."

"Alright," I said after typing it onto the screen. "I'll get it set up tonight and planted in the morning."

"Where are you?"

"An aircraft carrier. We should be about 100 miles or so from the coast of Virginia."

"Ok, get it done and get me in."

"Will do."

I pulled out my bug as the walls returned to the pine trees. Pulling out some tools, I started working. Programming it to attach to Jarvis rather than the files in the system, I started making details into the bug. It would sit and wait for Jarvis to show up. When Jarvis broke in, there would be no virus found.

I wondered what would happen if my contraptions got in the wrong hands. The light bulb wasn't so bad. The scanner couldn't be recreated by anyone. The virus cover could destroy nations. It would have to be well hidden.

As the noise of the ship started to come to life, I walked out of my room and headed back to the cages. As I stared curiously at the two, I saw the screen that probably controlled both of them. It wouldn't have much access to anything. It was probably a separate system completely.

So, I kept walking. I ended up in a large room. There were computers everywhere and agents everywhere. I could sense someone coming up behind me. "Woah," I said, feigning my awe.

Please, I could build a room three times better than this in less space.

"So, you're the astronomer," an authoritative voice said behind me.

I turned to a tall black man with an eye patch and strange veins or scars coming from the eye patch. He was dressed in a long trench coat.

"Astronomer?"

"Would you prefer fortune teller?" He asked smartly.

"If you're going to call me something, then call me what I am," I shot back.

"And just what are you?"

"A shaman."

He laughed, "Shaman? A witch doctor? Well, alright Doc."

"I wouldn't laugh. I read the stars. I don't have to tell you what needs to be done to save the world."

His smile disappeared to a thin-lipped, tight glare of annoyance. "You _will_ tell me everything related to the Tesseract."

"A wonderful new invention called the internet can tell you all about it."

He growled but didn't say anything. That look in his eyes…

He didn't want me to know that he already knew everything.

I never told Tony and if he knew he would have asked about it. How much was he hiding from everyone? My eyes scanned the area looking for a place to plant my bug, but there was no decent place. No direct access that would sense Jarvis as soon as he hit. I saw a man playing Galiga so I approached him.

"Pac-Man's better," I said as I stood behind him. He nearly jumped out of his skin as he spun to face me. I smiled as I leaned forward, placing my hand on the screen, planting the bug on the back of his screen. "On the harder levels, you can push A and B then move the joy stick and it lets you move around the screen. Best hack ever."

He gave me a grateful smile and I walked away, looking at everything else. I didn't understand any of it.

Bored of being inside, I went outside to the asphalt field. It looked a lot more dangerous during the day than it had the night before. I yawned as I stretched.

I could get used to this.

A jet flew by leaving the disgusting smell of burning fuel and a heat wave behind.

Or not.

I walked around the area, watching men run in uniform lines and watching planes come and go. Tony wouldn't be there for a while. And I still needed to figure out those cages.

"Not everything is like the city," a voice snapped at me.

I turned to a brown haired woman in a blue skin-tight jumper. Her face was just as tight as her uniform.

"Sorry Princess, you don't get a five star hotel breakfast. You have to get it yourself. We don't bring it to you."

I looked around, "Uh, I think you got the wrong person. I don't remember pissing on someone's parade."

She inhaled sharply, her eyes narrowed in annoyance.

I turned my back to her, "Don't treat me like a fool. I haven't done anything to be treated like a child. If I wanted breakfast, I would have asked where to go. Come at me again with such words, and you will not walk for a week."

I heard a quiet laugh behind me. Looking back, there was a curly cherry-red haired woman with blue eyes standing there in a leather jacket and red shirt with tight black pants.

"Uh, hi," I said as I faced her fully.

She offered me a cup of coffee, "Sorry. Agent Hill is very…"

"In control."

"Yeah," she agreed.

I turned back to the ocean, my eyes not missing the black man in the window, watching us like a vulture.

"I'm Natasha Romanoff," she introduced.

"Forest Wolfmother."

She cocked her head to the side, feign curiosity on her face, "Is that your real name?"

"Yeah," I replied.

The glint in her eyes told me she knew I was lying. She was going to be fun.

"Are you an agent as well?" I asked her.

"Yeah," she replied. "So what brings you here?"

"The Tesseract," I replied. "Isn't that why we're all here?"

"Phil says you know more than you're letting on."

"Yep."

"Why are you hiding secrets?" She asked. "Aren't you concerned about the world?"

"Nope," I replied after I took a sip of my coffee. "This is…weird."

Her dangerous eyes suddenly disappeared to curiosity, "What is?"

"This floating asphalt in the middle of the ocean."

"It's a helicarrier."

I nearly choked on my coffee. "It flies?"

"Yeah. Is that going to be a problem?"

"If it is, will I be getting off?"

"No."

"Guess it isn't a problem."

I figured her out. She was some sort of seductress and interrogator. She would gain the trust of her victim then turn on them completely. But I had already turned. This was a game. Every man for himself.

"Oh," I said. "The guy that's in charge. What's his name?"

Her eyes moved back to me after staring at the ocean for a while. Her depressed distress was obvious before it disappeared. "Director Nick Fury."

I nodded as I took a sip of my coffee. "So who is he?"

Her head snapped at me, "What?"

"The man you're thinking about. Was he like your partner-in-crime?"

"Uh, yeah, s-something like that."

"I'm sorry. What happened to him?"

"Loki," she replied dangerously. "The scepter he has, has some of the energy from the Tesseract in it. He can use it to take over people's minds."

I nodded thoughtfully. "I wouldn't let it get you down."

"Just because you don't have anything else to lose does not mean the rest of us don't."

Her eyes widened in shock at what she had said.

"You shouldn't let your anger get the best of you, Natasha. You'll say things you don't need to. I can't offer you much comfort, but I do know Loki won't kill him."

"How can you be so sure?"

"He needs him. Your friend knows all the secrets of this…whatever this is. Loki needs him for leverage."

She sighed, "I guess…that's sort of comforting."

I took a sip of my coffee as I kept my eyes over the ocean. "You know, if the end of the world wasn't coming, I think this would be a pretty nice place to be. If you like jets and stuff."

"Do you?"

"No." I smiled some. "My grandfather told me if men were meant to fly they would be born with wings."

"What about swimming?"

"Swimming wasn't a problem. It was scuba diving and submarines that freaked him out. If men were meant to live in the water, they would have gills."

"He sounds like an interesting man."

"He was."

I saw a man walk off a plane. I just thought I was nervous. He was acting like a cat in a room full of rocking chairs. His dark eyes were squinted from the sun and he was wringing his hands, dodging people and plane wings. Dressed in a brown blazer, purple button up, and brown slacks, I couldn't imagine how hot he was. His wavy black hair and tanned skin made me believe he may have been part Indian, but his facial structure said otherwise.

"Dr. Banner," Natasha called to the fretting man.

I glanced at her. She was radiating shaky energy. Was she scared of him? I looked back to the timid man. He was shaky too, but he looked harmless.

The man walked up to us, "Agent Romanoff." His dark eyes moved to me, "Uh, hi."

"This is Dr. Forest Wolfmother," she introduced.

I forced a smile as I shook his hand, "Nice to meet you, sir."

"A doctor at such a young age," he said. "I'm sorry you ended up here," he said gesturing to everything around us. "I, uh, wasn't informed about you."

"Neither was I," I replied. "I was at Stark Tower and Pepper told Phil that I predicted all this…mayhem. So, Tony sent me ahead."

"Predicted?"

"She's an astronomer," Natasha butted in.

"I'm not an astronomer," I growled at her. "I'm not a doctor either. I am a shaman. I was working on a business major before I got caught playing Pac-Man."

"Shaman? So you're…a witch doctor?"

"Whatever," I said, irritated.

"No, I-I'm sorry," he apologized quickly. "I, uh, I didn't know it would insult you."

His eyes were begging me to accept that apology. He was so unstable.

"It's fine," I reassured him.

"So, what is a shaman…exactly?" He asked.

"A spirit healer. And we occasionally have a vision."

"Why aren't you with your…"

"I'm not shaman material," I told him. "It still came with me, but I tried to leave it behind. I tell people to keep them away, most of the time. They think I'm a witch-doctor and into voodoo."

He blushed as he pursed his lips, embarrassed at his automatic assumption. "I guess…some things are meant to be kept secret," he questioned.

I shrugged, "Only if you want them to be kept secret. I'm not too worried about any of this though."

"I, uh, I was told about the alien that was here last year. Does-does he have anything to do with this?"

"A little," I replied. "Loki is Thor's brother. But when Thor came last year, the stars from wherever he came from came with him. Loki brought new stars with him."

The doctor and I started walking around the ship. I needed to get away from watchful eyes.

"I should have said no," he said suddenly.

"No to coming?"

"Yeah," he replied. "I was fine in Calcutta."

"Was it hot?"

He looked at me, "What?"

"Calcutta. Was it hot?"

"Y-Yeah," he said, glancing at me. "You really aren't worried that we're facing the end of the world are you?"

"I am, but I want to know who I can trust and who I can't before all of this starts."

"You-you don't trust everyone?"

I sighed as I tapped my fingers on my empty cup. Watching the air blow by, I balled up my cup and threw it in the direction of a trash can. The wind caught it and dropped it into the trash.

"I can't trust anyone," I told him. "I…My secrets. They need me to admit them so they can use me against the Moon…Tesseract."

"Against the moon?" He asked, confused about my statement.

"My people call it Atloyihv Svnoyiehinvdo. Or Moon's Tear. It's considered a blessing from the gods to give us energy of a blue moon."

"That sounds like a nice legend."

"If it wasn't the truth, it would be a nice legend."

He put his hands in his pockets, warming up to me some. "It's truth?"

"It's probably been at least 10 years since it happened. It rained for four days. There was no sun, no moon and no lightning for four days. My family started to pass out. I ran to get help, but everyone else started passing out as well. Then the moon started to peek from the clouds. And everyone was fine. My grandfather didn't wake like everyone else. When he did wake, he told us his vision. It was a message to me to go see the Moon's Tear in the mountain. When I finally got to it, I knew what was wrong. I…I naturally absorb energy. And if I don't get it from the sun or moon…I get it from people. I was kicked out of the plantation. The moment I got to a city, the power went out. The entire city was out of power for a few hours. And it never leaves. At least in never leaves in bulks. No energy bombs or anything."

He smiled some. "That's…that's something else. Why would you trust me with that information?"

"Because you won't tell," I said quietly.

It wasn't a threat. It was the truth. He was a good man.

"So, I guess you want to hear my story, huh?" He asked, kicking his foot across the ground.

"You can when you're ready," I assured him. "If you're never ready, I'll never know."

"Dr. Banner!"

The two of us turned to see a young man with light brown hair that was neatly cut. He was dressed very…old-fashioned.

"Yeah, hi," Banner greeted, shaking the man's hand. "They told me you would be coming."

"Word is, you can find the cube."

Banner looked around as he fidgeted, getting nervous again, "Is that the only word on me?" He asked, a tight knowing smile on his lips.

"Only word I care about."

I watched Natasha push an earpiece. My eyes narrowed some, trying to remember everything I had told her. She didn't learn anything valuable. In fact, I had cracked her.

"This must be strange for you, all this," Banner said, gesturing to our surroundings.

"Well, this is actually kind of familiar."

"You might want to step inside in a minute," Natasha said. "It's going to get a little hard to breathe."

It was like that was the magic words. Something loud shifted. People around started running to positions.

"Is this a submarine?" the man asked.

I felt my heart sink. Natasha would have lied about that to gain my trust. If it was, I was swimming to shore, wherever that was.

"Really," Banner said amused. "They want _me_ in a submerged, pressurized, metal container?"

The three of us walked to the edge of the ship. Mist was coming up from the whirlpool. It was getting faster and faster, but shallower as well. The rotors were already spinning, but the squeal of the turbines powering up made me take a step back.

I could not handle that.

The pressure that went through my body was like an elevator going up too quickly.

"No, no, this is much worse," Banner said with faint sarcasm.

I heard a laugh. My eyes moved to the young man by Banner, "You look like you're about to pass out."

I felt like I could too.

"Forest?" Banner said concern in his voice. "Are you alright?"

I just turned and went back inside. If I stood there, I would crack. A blue glow caught my attention while I was walking down the halls. Moving out of the way of the rushing agents, I tapped the bands together and let the blueprint of the power generator cage show.

"Woah."

I looked up at Banner and the other guy. The hologram quickly disappeared.

"That's…wow."

"Uh, thanks. It's not the best thing in the world, but it does what it can."

"So, is your name really Forest?" He asked.

"Yes."

He smiled, "Steve Rogers."

"It's nice to meet you," I said as I shook his hand.

The three of us started walking. "So, what is that thing? Like a computer?"

"Yeah."

"They didn't say you were coming."

"I didn't know I was coming."

"Then…why are you here?"

"To read stars, I guess. I knew this was going to happen before anyone else did."

"You predict the future?"

"Not exactly."

The three of us stepped out into the large cockpit where I had left my virus blocker. I watched as Steve stepped out to further examine everything while Banner kept to the wall. I stayed distant as well, not wanting any more sarcastic remarks than I was already getting from Director Fury.

Various things were being announced throughout the room about the helicarrier's whatever.

I caught a glimpse of Banner fidgeting away from two security agents.

Just what the hell was he capable of doing? I sighed, ignoring my impatience.

Fury turned to us, "Gentleman." His eye landed on me, mocking me, "Doctor."

I bit my tongue.

Steve walked up to him and handed him a ten dollar bill.

Fury made his way to Banner, offering his hand to the man. Banner was hesitant, but shook it anyway.

Banner started walking away from Fury, a new look on his face. He wasn't nervous. It was like a switch had been cut off.

Fury looked at me, "You too, Doctor."

I sneered at him and walked up.

"We're sweeping every wirelessly accessible camera on the planet," Phil informed us. "Cell phones, laptops. If it's connected to a satellite, it's eyes and ears for us."

"It's still not gonna find them in time," Natasha commented.

I caught a glimpse of the man on the screen, but didn't give a second of interest in him.

"You have to narrow your field," Banner and I said at the same time.

I blushed and cleared my throat, looking away to find something else interesting to look at.

"H-How many spectrometers do you have access to?" Banner asked.

"How many are there?" Fury asked him.

"Call every lab you know," Banner directed as he removed his blazer. "Tell them to put the spectrometers on the roof and calibrate them for gamma rays. I'll rough out a tracking algorithm, basic cluster recognition. At least we could rule out a few places."

Fury nodded, "Dr. Wolfmother, what do you think about that?"

I looked at Fury, "Think about what?"

"What he just said," Fury stated very annoyed with me.

He needed to work on his patience.

"Basic cluster recognition will barely work. It may shoot out gamma rays, but it's gamma rays from another planet. We'll need to keep the entire field of radiation open if gamma rays don't work."

"Do you have somewhere for us to work?" Banner asked as he rolled up his sleeves.

"Agent Romanoff," Fury called. "Could you show Dr. Banner and Dr. Wolfmother to their laboratory, please?"

She stood up, walking past us, "You're gonna love it. We got all the toys."

I looked at everything in the room as I pulled my sleeves up. When Natasha left, Banner looked at me. "What sort of recognition should we use?"

"No, I said that to piss him off," I said with a smile.

"Do you really think it could give off another type of radiation?"

"All my inventions run off my energy. I have a necklace from when I encountered the Moon's Tear, but I also had it when I took out an entire city. It may have some radiation, it may not."

"Alright," he said. "It's a good start."

I walked out of the lab and grabbed everything in my room, even the light bulb and sound sensor. I sighed when I walked into the lab.

He chuckled, "All I brought was a toothbrush."

"Well, I only have two outfits right now. The other one is covered in grease from fixing Tony's Iron Man suit."

"He let you fix it?"

"I had to take it apart and fix everything so it would be ready for this war."

"This…war. How certain are you about it?"

"It's going to happen," I said. "Loki's the god of mischief. All he wants is chaos. And revenge."

"Revenge?"

I tapped the bands together then turned the projector to the wall. "Revenge on Thor. While he was here, he made some friends."

I sighed, "Loki knows about all of us. I don't know how much he knows about me or if he even cares about me, but you and Tony have been on the media."

"Steve's famous too," Banner told me. "He's Captain America."

I looked up at him, "Who?"

He chuckled, "It was before your time."

"And yours," I said. "You can't be that much older than me."

"I could probably be your father," he said.

"That…that didn't really give you much of a range. I've heard of 13 year olds giving birth."

He rolled his eyes, "I'm 40."

"You're a terrible liar."

He looked at me, "I'm telling the truth."

"Aha!" I exclaimed. "Here it is."

I pulled out the necklace with a pendant of a skull made from an actual human skull. Opal, sugilite, and tiger's eye beads surrounded the skull. "This is what should have the radiation."

He picked up a scanner, "There's a little, but it's not enough to make a signature."

"That's a day ruiner."

"So, what does it do?" Banner asked as he took it from me.

"It's just a shaman necklace. It's used for rituals and so on."

He nodded as he handed it back. "Why were you wearing it that day?"

"The beads are used for opening the psyche. It was to help me better understand my purpose."

"It has multiple purposes?"

"Yeah. Bring back the dead, blessings, medicines, stuff like that."

"Bring back the dead," he stated. "You don't really believe that, do you?"

"I wouldn't if I hadn't seen it myself," I said as I looked at it. "Weird what using a human skull as a bead can do."


	3. Chapter 3

I slammed my hand on the blueprint, "Dammit!"

Banner didn't even look at me, "What?"

"It's all wrong."

He walked to my side, putting his glasses on, "What's wrong?"

"All of this," I emphasized. "The shape's right, but…it's not going to hold the Tesseract. I'll have to rebuild the whole damn thing."

Grumbling as I disassembled the energy concentrator, Banner just gave a smile. He was warming up to me.

"Do you want me to help?"

"No," I muttered. "You'd have to be inside my head to know how to build this."

I was starting a new energy concentrator when some sort of calamity in the cockpit area. I didn't even get to glance out when the doors opened.

"We found Loki," Natasha announced.

I looked at her then Banner and back to her, "What do you want us to do? Be the welcoming committee?"

Banner looked at Natasha, an agreeing smile on his lips.

She huffed and walked out.

"I guess it was nice of her to inform us," Banner commented.

"It was," I said as I continued working. "Good news or bad, I'm not fond of people that want to dig into my head and figure out my secrets while I'm working."

"Yeah," he said. "I know what you mean."

I adjusted a piece, straightening it so the wires would flow more smoothly, "What'd she do to you?"

"I came because I wanted to. But only because of gamma radiation. She pulled me to the edge of the city so I wouldn't hurt anyone." He sighed as he took his glasses off, the situation suddenly being the only the thing on his mind. I stopped working, my full attention on him. He was really bothered by this. "She told me that it had been over a year since my last incident. They've been watching me all this time, just in case they needed to put me down."

With an amused scoff as he licked his bottom lip, his lips pursed, "As if they could."

I didn't step into that. I was about to start working again, but a gaze made me freeze. I looked at Banner who was just looking at me, sad brown eyes watching me.

"Did you want a hug?" I asked. "You just don't seem like a hugging kind of guy."

He smiled some, "You don't ask questions."

"Do you want me to ask questions? I have plenty."

He seemed to be waiting for my question.

"Did you want a hug?" I asked quietly, but seriously.

An awkward tension filled the room.

There was a distant look on his face, "It's been a long time since I've had any contact like that."

"You're avoiding the question."

He really seemed like he was debating it. A shy smile finally formed on his lips, "Maybe next time."

I shrugged with a small smile, "Your loss." As I started building the energy concentrator again, I began thinking about what he said. It had been a long time for me as well.

When I was sixteen, I hospitalized a guy with a kiss.

Glancing at Banner, I shook my head with a silent sigh. That was a stupid offer. I could have knocked him out.

It was quiet for a while. Fixing wires and trying to fix a stable energy current was the hardest thing. At least, it was hard to test. Especially with Banner in the line of fire.

"If you want this thing to work, you need to move," I told him.

He walked to my side and I put my hands together, building energy between the two, forming a cube of my own. I started to put it in, but I stopped and the cube went away.

It felt like I had jumped into an ice bath. I was the counter to the Moon's Tear. I could only hope that Tony would come so I could leave.

After a moment, I noticed Banner was next to me. "Oh, sorry. It's-it's not ready yet."

"You plan on leaving?" Dark eyes were familiar to me, but his were deeper. Or chose to be. Maybe they weren't deeper. They just cared. That was something that was not familiar.

"When Tony gets here," I replied unable to look at him, placing the tip of my screwdriver against my palm and twisting it back and forth.

"We need someone who can build this," he replied.

"It is built," I told him. "It just hasn't been tested. I'll be in the way. You and Tony know these words that don't make sense to me. It'll be best for me to go ho-to Stark Tower. Tony will know how to install the gamma whatever."

I picked up the piece I hadn't put in. It would be simple to install when the gamma signature came in. I examined the piece. It was an impulse build. He might not be able to figure it out.

Sighing, I began drawing a blueprint of the machine giving brief instructions on how to install the gamma ray signature scanner. The more I wrote, the more confusing it sounded, even to me. I growled and threw the blueprint and instructions away.

"Do you need a hug?" Banner joked.

I ran my hand through my hair, too frustrated to even answer.

A black thing crawling down the wall caught my attention. Raising an eyebrow and walking to it, I frowned. "How'd you get out?"

"You have a pet tarantula?" He asked. I looked at him as the spider crawled onto my hand. "You _brought_ a tarantula?"

"No, it's a spy camera," I told him. "Yeah, it looks like a spider and it's pretty much got a mind of its own. I forgot I brought it. It can sense danger before I can. It's like my sixth sense materialized into a spider."

I put it on the ground and watched it crawl away. "Wonder where it's going."

"You don't know?"

"I have no-"

As if on cue, a line of guards walked by. They had a prisoner. Loki smiled at both of us, a smile of mischief. Banner slowly took off his glasses as the humanoid walked by. I didn't like the look he gave us. This look of distress came on Banner's face as he pinched the bridge of his nose tightly and rubbed his eyes.

"You alright?" I asked.

"Yeah," he sighed. "Let's go see what this is about."

When we got back to the bridge, Natasha and Steve were there. Steve was wearing a strange blue outfit with a star on the chase and stripes on the waist. There was some tall muscular guy with shoulder length blonde hair with a metal vest and red cape standing away from the rest of us**.**

There were TVs in the large meeting-like table. I stood next to Banner as we watched Loki walk into a cage. Banner crossed his arms tight across his chest while I exhaled a shaky breath.

"In case it's unclear," Fury's voice came from the TV. "If you try to escape, if you so much as scratch that glass."

Some sort of static sound came over the speakers.

Loki walked to the side of the glass, peering down into whatever was beneath him.

"It's 30,000 feet straight down in a steel cage. You get how that works?" Fury asked.

The static stopped. "Ant, boot."

Loki chuckled, "It's an impressive cage," he said as he gestured around him. "Not built, I think, for me."

"Built for something a lot stronger than you," Fury said.

"Oh, I've heard," Loki said as he directed his attention to the camera we were watching. "A mindless beast."

Natasha's eyes moved to Banner, and he tightened his arms around his chest, smiling back at her.

"Makes play he's still a man," Loki continued. "How desperate are you, that you call on such lost creatures to defend you?"

"How desperate am I?" Fury asked. "You threaten my world with war. You steal a force you can't hope to control. You talk about peace and kill because it's fun. You have made me very desperate. You might not be glad you did.

Loki chuckled, "A force I can't hope to control?" He turned to the neighboring cage. "What about the force in your midst you can't control? She can't even control herself."

I didn't look at anyone.

"It burns you to have come so close," the god of mischief mocked. "To have the Tesseract, to have power, unlimited power. And for what?" He chuckled lightly, "A warm light for all mankind to share. And then to be reminded what real power is."

"Well, let me know if 'real power' wants a magazine or something," Fury mocked.

Loki faced the camera again and the screen was gone.

"He really grows on you, doesn't he?" Banner said as he crossed his arms tight across his chest, uncomfortable with it all.

"Loki's going to drag this out," Steve said. "So, Thor, what's his play?"

"He has an army called the Chitauri," the man in the cape said. "They're not of Asgard, nor any world known. He means to lead them against your people. They will win him the Earth, in return, I suspect, for the Tesseract."

"An army," Steve said in disbelief, "from outer space."

Banner took off his glasses, fidgeting with them in his hands, "So, he's building another portal. That's what he needs Erik Selvig for."

"Selvig?" Thor questioned, some confusion on his face.

"He's an astrophysicist," Banner explained.

"He's a friend," Thor replied.

"Loki has him under some kind of spell," Natasha said. "Along with one of ours**."**

"I want to know why Loki let us take him," Steve said.

My attention snapped to him. "He just surrendered? No fight, nothing?"

"Nothing," Steve confirmed. "He's not leading an army from here."

"I don't think we should be focusing on Loki," Banner stated. "That guy's brain is a bag full of cats. You can smell crazy on him."

"Have care how you speak," Thor warned. "Loki is beyond reason, but he is of Asgard. And he is my brother."

"He killed 80 people in two days," Natasha said bluntly.

"He's adopted," Thor explained.

I looked at Natasha, "He did what?"

"Killed 80 people."

I started toward the hall.

"Where are you going? You can't guilt trip Loki."

"I don't plan on guilt tripping him."

Just before I could get down, I ran into Tony and Phil.

"Where are you going?" Tony asked as he put his arm around my shoulder and led me back to the others.

Guess my party with Loki was going to wait.

"Iridium…What do they need iridium for?" Banner asked.

"It's a stabilizing agent," Tony said, pulling his arm from me.

I went back to Banner's side, the only place I really felt safe.

Tony told Phil something and Phil walked on.

"It means the portal won't collapse on itself like it did at S.H.I.E.L.D. No hard feelings, Point Break," Tony said as he gave a gentle slap to Thor's arm, "You've got a mean swing. Also, it means the portal can open as wide and stay open as long, as Loki wants."

He stood in the middle of the four computers on the bridge. "Raise the mizzenmast. Jib the top sails."

All the agents at the computers stopped and stared at him.

He pointed at a guy, "That man is playing Galaga. He thought we wouldn't notice, but we did."

Tony hesitated for a moment, looking at all the computers, then put his hand in front of his face before turning back to us, "How does Fury even see all these?"

"He turns," Hill responded.

"Sounds exhausting," Tony stated as he started playing on all the computers. "The rest of the raw materials, Agent Barton can get his hands on pretty easily. The only major component he still needs is a power source of high-energy density. Something to kick-start the cube."

I felt my heart stop. The lights flickered some.

"When did you become an expert in thermonuclear astrophysics?" Hill asked.

"Last night," Tony replied matter-of-factly. "The packet, Selvig's notes, the extraction theory papers. Am I the only one who did the reading?"

"Does Loki need any particular kind of power source?" Steve asked.

"He would have to heat the cube to 120-million Kelvin just to break through the Coulomb barrier," Banner said like it was impossible.

"Unless Selvig has figured out how to stabilize the quantum tunneling effect," Tony said as he paced as he usually did when he spoke.

"Well, if he could do that, he could achieve heavy ion fusion at any reactor on the planet," Banner stated.

Tony made his way to the doctor, "Finally, someone who speaks English."

"Is that what just happened?" Steve asked.

"I work with them and I don't know what they're talking about," I muttered.

Tony shook Banner's hand, "It's good to meet you, Dr. Banner. Your work on antielectron collisions is unparalleled. And I'm a huge fan of the way you lose control and turn into an enormous green rage-monster."

Banner glanced at me, his lips tight, almost insulted by the comment. "Thanks," he finally said.

"Dr. Banner is only here to track the cube," Fury said as he joined us. "I was hoping you might join him and Dr. Wolfmother."

Tony looked at me about to say something.

"Don't, Stark," I said sharply.

"I would start with that stick of his," Steve suggested. "It may be magical, but it works a lot like a HYDRA weapon."

"I don't know about that, but it is powered by the cube," Fury pointed out. "And I would like to know how Loki used it to turn two of the sharpest men I know into his personal flying monkeys."

"Monkeys?" Thor asked. "I do not understand."

"I do," Steve said excitedly.

Tony sighed as if he was embarrassed to even know the guy.

"I understood that reference," the captain clarified.

"Shall we play, Doctor?" Tony asked to both Banner and me.

"This way, sir," Banner said.

"I'll see you in there," I said making my way to the hall.

A hand on my shoulder stopped me.

"I don't know what you think you're doing, but you are _not_ going to Loki," Fury threatened.

"Once you find a way to stop me, I'll be happy to listen to your orders," I spat and continued on.

I stood in silence in front of Loki's cage. Right next to it was a cage of my own.

"Is there something you want?" Loki asked as he turned to me.

"Yes."

He was clearly amused, "And what would that be?"

"The 80 lives you stole."

He laughed, "Did they mean something to you? You care not of this world. You steal the very souls your allies plan to save. Even as we speak, you take their souls one drop at a time."

"That cage doesn't protect you from me."

"I will be out of here before you can take my soul," he smiled. "And you will not take it from me because you need the Tesseract."

"Please," I scoffed. "We both know I'm stronger than it."

He started walking around the cage. "That is why they built a cage for you, is it not?"

"I don't ask questions."

"Is that wise?"

"Do you want me to ask questions? I have plenty."

He chuckled, clearly finding humor in my personality. "Please. Ask away."

"When did you kill those 80 people?"

"Within the last 48 hours," he replied. "Do not limit the number to 80. I believe more are unaccounted for."

"Ayetsv ulenahidv didanvdo."

The translucent silver halo around Loki's body startled him. "You witch! What have you done?"

"Galutsv ayv. Atsawesolvsdodi hawinaditlv wohali goyadv."

The silver wisps began to spin around him, the metallic tornado growing until it had left the room and was filling the room. The hellish wails put a look of fear on Loki's face as the tornado began to shrink around me, the wisps and screams disappearing.

"Maybe your conscious won't be so heavy with the weight of the dead on your mind. I'll gladly hold it for you."

I headed back to the lab, my hands in my pockets. It was a precautious step. I would have to read over what was going to happen. When I walked into the lab, Tony and Banner stopped what they were doing and looked at me.

"Wanna explain what happed with Loki?" Tony asked. "You teaming up with him?"

I walked to my bag and searched through then pulled out a book. "129."

I tossed it to him and looked at the gamma radiation signature so I could adjust the concentrator.

"Shamans are spirit healers," I explained as I started working again. "Absorbing the souls of the damned is a warrant for death. When they're unleashed, it will take my life as well. It's a precaution to this war."

"You took souls from Loki?" Banner asked.

"When people are murdered, their souls cling to the ones that kill them until their murderer dies. A shaman can remove the cursed souls, take them for their own, give them rest. Build up an army of the dead within ourselves. When we let them go, we leave with them."

"You just threw your life away because of this?" Tony asked in disbelief as he slammed the book shut. "Are you really that stupid?"

"It's just a precaution. Yes, it will kill me eventually, but it won't right now."

"Hopefully you won't have to use them," Banner commented as he picked up his gamma ray scanner. "The gamma readings are definitely consistent with Selvig's reports of the Tesseract. But it's going to take weeks to process."

Tony sighed, "If we bypass their mainframe and direct route to the Homer cluster, we can clock this at around 600 teraflops." He patted me on the back, a smile coming back to his face, "And with our Energizer Bunny we can probably push it faster."

I looked at Tony, "You what?"

"Can you speed up the process?" Banner asked with some hope.

"Speed what up?"

Tony sighed, "How much did you pay attention to?"

"He said gamma readings and I called game over."

"Can you intensify the machine to help us find the Tesseract's gamma radiation?"

"Of course," I replied. "I'm still working on it though. Turns out the gamma radiation changed the way the piece needed to be built."

"You have to disassemble again?" Banner questioned.

"No, I can make it into the shape necessary. If it gets too wide, the readings won't be accurate, but if it gets too small we won't be able to find it."

My wrist bands began to glow. I walked away from my project to see what was going on. Tony glanced at me, but decided to talk to Banner instead.

"You know, you should stop by Stark Tower sometime," Tony told the doctor. "Top ten floors, all R&D. You'd love it. It's Candy Land. And she lives on the 30 floor."

He gave a nervous chuckle, "Thanks, but the last time I was in New York, I…kind of broke Harlem."

"Well, I promise a stress-free environment," Tony said.

I scoffed as I looked at the screen.

My spider had moved. I was looking at clouds. What the hell was happening outside?

"No tension, no surprises."

I heard a shock.

"Ow!" Banner exclaimed as the door opened.

"Hey!" Steve yelled.

Tony watched Banner carefully while the doctor just smiled. "Nothing?"

"Are you nuts?" Steve asked, displeased with Tony's action.

"Jury's out," Tony commented. "You really have a lid on it, haven't you? What's your secret? Mellow jazz, bongo drums, a huge bag of weed?"

"Is everything a joke to you?" Steve asked.

I looked up from my cloud watching them. A fight was about to happen.

"Funny things are," Tony said, pointing some sort of metal stick at the captain.

"Threatening the safety of everyone on this ship isn't funny. No offence, Doc."

"If anyone's threatening the safety of the ship, it's her," Tony said, pointing the stick at me.

The captain looked at me, "I'll talk to you in a minute."

Banner looked at me then Steve and back to his work, "It's alright. I wouldn't have come aboard if I couldn't handle pointy things."

I smiled some. Tony started walking to another screen, tapping the metal stick on his palm. "You're tip-toeing, big man," he said pointing back at Banner. "You need to strut."

"And you need to focus on the problem, Mr. Stark," Steve said.

"Do you think I'm not?" Tony asked. "Why did Fury call us in? Why now? Why not before? What isn't he telling us?" Tony pointed at me, "And she is the biggest mystery. I can't do the equation unless I have all the variables."

"You think Fury is hiding something?" Steve asked, even casting a glance at me.

"He's a spy, Captain," Tony told him. "He is _the_ spy. His secrets have secrets. It's bugging him too, isn't it?"

"Uh," Banner started, not enjoying the sudden pressure on him. "I just want to finish my work here, and-"

"Doctor?" Steve said seriously.

Banner looked away, hesitating glancing uncomfortably at the Captain. He shook his head with a sigh as he removed his glasses. "'A warm light for all mankind.' Loki's jab at Fury about the cube."

"I heard it," Steve replied.

"I think that was meant for you," Banner said, pointing at Tony.

Tony offered him whatever was in the silver bag and he reached in continuing his speech, "Even if Barton didn't tell Loki about the tower, it was still all over the news."

"Stark Tower?" Steve asked in disbelief. "That big, ugly," he hesitated slightly at Tony's daring look. "Building in New York?"

"It's powered by an arc reactor, a self-sustaining energy source. That building will run itself for, what, a year?" Banner asked Tony.

"It's just the prototype," Tony said. His attention went back to the Captain, "I'm kind of the only name in clean energy right now. That's what he's getting at."

Banner picked at his watch band, trying to fix it. "So, why didn't S.H.I.E.L.D. bring him in on the Tesseract project?" Banner questioned. "What are they doing in the energy business in the first place?" His expression was becoming more dismal the more he thought about it.

"I should probably look into that once my decryption program finishes breaking into all of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s secure files," Tony commented.

That angered the Captain, "I'm sorry. Did you say-"

"Jarvis has been running it since I hit the bridge," Tony said, pulling out his small device to check the progress. "In a few hours, I'll know every dirty secret S.H.I.E.L.D. has ever tried to hide. Blueberry?"

"Yet you're confused about why they didn't want you around," the Captain commented.

I slowly walked to my place where I was rebuilding the gamma ray scanner.

"An intelligence organization that fears intelligence?" Tony questioned. "Historically, not awesome."

Steve looked rather offended at something Tony said. I looked at Banner who was watching, his eyes debating if this thing became physical would he have to step in.

"I think Loki's trying to wind us up," Steve said. "This is a man who means to start a war and if we don't stay focused, he'll succeed. And if he gets her," he pointed at me. "We've lost the world."

"Are you suggesting we put her in that cage?" Banner asked.

"If necessary," Steve said, his eyes staying on mine. "Even if I have to put her there myself."

Banner looked at me for a moment then back to Steve, "I-I can't let you do that."

Steve's attention moved to the doctor, "Everyone saw what happened in there when she went to visit Loki. None of us know what happened."

I wrung my hands for a moment, glancing at all of them before finally just facing Steve's anger, "Dr. Wolfmother," I said distantly. "I am a doctor, of sorts. I heal souls, give them rest. The souls of those Loki has killed lingered on him. And they would stay until he died. But, I can take them. I can take them and make my own army. An army of the damned."

"There you go," Tony said.

Steve narrowed his eyes, "I don't believe you."

"I didn't figure you would. So, I'll prove it to you."

I turned to the scepter and just stared at it for a moment. With a sigh, I grabbed the scepter.

"Ayetsv ulenahidv didanvdo."

The silver halo appeared around the staff, even turning the blue spark of the Tesseract silver.

I wanted to back out. There were more souls than I thought. I put my hand around the scepter's golden handle, "Galutsv ayv. Atsawesolvsdodi hawinaditlv wohali goyadv."

Souls should out of the rod, swirling around the room. Steve, Tony, and Banner covered their ears to block out the wails. The silver wind wrapped around me, the souls disappearing.

The three men just stared at me, all leaning against a counter.

"What the hell was that noise?" Steve asked.

"A siren's call," I replied. "Notice how weak you feel?"

"Yeah, actually," Steve said. "I haven't felt like this in a long time. What happened?"

"It's a summoning of souls. Some of yours as well."

"What?" Steve asked angrily. "You can't put our lives at risk like that."

"I didn't," I told him. "It's…it's like a broken bone. When it grows back, it's harder to break."

"That takes weeks," Steve growled.

"You'll be back to normal in a couple of hours."

He huffed, "We don't have a couple of hours."

"She took souls off Loki," Banner said. "She would have taken part of him as well. He can't do anything. We have the scepter."

"This is magic-" Steve started to argue, but I was not going to allow that.

"This is not magic," I hissed at him. "Do not insult my ways again. Years from now, we'll have our own Tesseracts, each powering a different country or some sort of weapon. There is no weapon, no machine, no form of energy that can suck a soul out of a person's body. That, Captain, is magic."

"It's witchcraft," Steve shot back.

"I am a witch doctor," I replied as I went back to working. "Witchcraft is under my area of expertise."

Steve huffed, not arguing with that anymore, "We have orders. We should follow them."

"Following's not really my style," Tony told him.

I felt a nudge making me look at Banner then at the two men that were staring each other down.

"And you're all about style, aren't you?" Steve asked sarcastically.

"Of the people in this room, which one is, A, wearing a spangly outfit, and, B, not of any use?"

I could see from the look on Steve's face that had hit him hard.

"Steve," Banner started, "tell me none of this smells a little funky to you."

His tight face, ego blown eyes moved back to Tony before he headed back to the door, "Just find the cube."

I caught the expression on Tony's face as well. Regret.

"Today, we have been gathered, and we see that the cycles of life continue," I said as I started working again. "We have been given the duty to live in balance and harmony with each other and all living things. So now, we bring our minds together; as one, we give greetings and thanks to each other as people. Now our minds are one."

"What the hell was that?" Tony asked. "A prayer?"

"Yeah," I said, still working on my piece to adjust to the gamma ray signature.

"What's it about?" Banner asked.

"Being grateful," I looked up at Tony and continued working. "I can tell you the rest if you'd like. Or a different one to ease the burden on your soul."

"Burden?" Tony scoffed as he walked to a screen. "That's the guy my dad never shut up about? I'm wondering if they shouldn't have just kept him on ice."

"Huh," Banner huffed lightly. "The guy's not wrong about Loki. He does have the jump on us."

"What he's got is an Acme dynamite kit," Tony said as he walked across the room to another screen. "It's going to blow up in his face. And I'm going to be there when it does."

Banner smiled, "Yeah. I'll read all about it."

"Uh-huh," Tony muttered under his breath. I looked at him. "Or you'll be suiting up with the rest of us."

Banner chuckled at the statement, "You see, I don't get a suit."

I saw him glance at me. He wanted me to hear it.

I stopped working and leaned against the counter, my arms crossed over my chest as the two geniuses continued this conversation.

"I'm exposed. Like a nerve," the doctor said bitterly. "It's a nightmare."

"I've got a cluster of shrapnel trying every second to crawl its way into my heart. This stops it," he said, tapping on the reactor in his chest. "This little circle of light, it's part of me now, not just armor. It's a terrible…privilege."

"But you can control it," Banner stated.

I was lost somewhere.

"Because I learned how," Tony told him.

"It's different," Banner said, trying to escape the topic.

Maybe it wasn't something for me to hear after all.

Tony swiped his finger across the screen, keeping Banner from working. "Hey, I read all about your accident. That much gamma exposure should have killed you."

I was about to stop listening when Tony said 'gamma' but 'killed' caught my attention.

"So you're saying that the Hulk," he paused, smiling some. "The other guy saved my life? That's nice. It's a nice sentiment. Saved it for what?"

Tony looked at me, "Ask her. She's the reader of destiny."

I immediately went back to working.

"Is that true?"

I looked up at them wishing I could disappear. "I just want to-"

Tony raised an unconvinced eyebrow, "You're not escaping this."

"I…I'm ignoring both of you," I concluded and went back to working.

Tony smirked, "I guess we'll just have to find out why."

"You may not enjoy that," Banner commented.

"And you just might," Tony told him as he walked to his screen. "Right, Forest?"

"Whatever floats your boat," I told him.


End file.
